Klarinet Archive - Posting 000394.txt from 1994/10

From: Josias Associates <josassoc@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Vibrato
Date: Fri, 28 Oct 1994 17:46:01 -0400

On Thu, 27 Oct 1994, Ron Everett wrote:

> Goodman also studied with Kell, I have been told. To my knowledge, Kell was
> the first "serious" clarinetist to use vibrato.
>
> Ron
> Everett

Ron,

In view of the recent discussions about Anton Stadler and his
basset clarinet(s), I couldn't resist saying something about another
historical clarinetist -- something that relates to your comment about
vibrato. I thought you might be interested.

I cite the following passage about Richard Muhlfeld,
the clarinetist who inspired Brahms' great chamber works. This quotation
is from the book, "Clarinet," by Jack Brymer, which is one of the
Yehudi Menuhin Music Guides:

".........A reminiscence of no less a player than Muhlfeld himself seems
to suggest that the use of vibrato may have fallen out of fashion
temporarily after his day, to return after about thirty years. Just
before World War II a question was put to a very old viola player,
sometime conductor of the Duke of Devonshire's Orchestra, about the
playing of Muhlfeld. The old man had occasionally been called by Joachim
to play in his quartet, and on several occasions had played the Brahms
Quintet with the great Muhlfeld. Of the clarinetist's playing he was
most enthusiastic, saying that three things mainly stuck in his memory.
'He used two clarinets, A and Bb, for the slow movement, to simplify the
gypsy section; he had a fiery technique with a warm tone -- and a big
vibrato.' Asked again by a startled questioner if he didn't mean to say
'rubato' the old man looked puzzled. 'No' he said, 'vibrato -- much more
than Joachim, and as much as the cellist.'"

How about them apples? Brymer concedes that, without a second-party
confirmation, the report is without official authority. But he points out
that the achievements of exceptional players like Muhlfeld do not always
take root in the years that follow their finest period.

Connie

Conrad Josias
Engineering Consultant
Josias Associates
La Canada, California
josassoc@-----.com